S7E30 - Luke 12:35-59 - Are You Ready???

A lot of us can read “be ready” and instantly picture a frantic spiritual sprint. Jesus paints something quieter and tougher: lamps lit, sleeves rolled up, a servant doing the work in front of them as if the Master could walk in at any moment. We open Luke 12:35 through the end of the chapter and talk about why readiness is a daily posture, not an emotional spike, and why a watchful life is actually a freer life.

From there, we get honest about stewardship and accountability. Jesus’ words about the faithful manager and the careless servant land on our calendars, our money, our relationships, and our integrity. “From everyone who has been given much, much will be required” becomes more than a quote, it becomes a mirror. We wrestle with what it looks like to serve people instead of using them, to stay faithful when no one’s watching, and to treat everyday responsibilities like spiritual assignments.

Then Jesus reframes everything with fire, division, and the tension the gospel can bring inside families. We talk about what it means to love your relatives deeply while keeping Christ at the center, how the church becomes real family when home is complicated, and why prayerful hope matters for unbelieving loved ones. We close with Jesus’ call to interpret the times, stop missing what God is doing, and pursue reconciliation now, not later.

If you’re tracking through Luke, craving a stronger Christian worldview, or trying to live with an eternal perspective in ordinary life, hit play. Subscribe, share this with a friend, and leave a review so others can find the show.

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Transcript

Welcome And Where We Are

SPEAKER_02 0:13

What's up, Lifehouse family? Welcome back to the Life Talk Podcast. It is another week, and more of God's Word. We are excited to be bringing you a brand new episode each and every week. We say it all the time, but appreciate you uh taking time out of your schedule to join us and uh just bring you some great conversation. We are continuing, man, the month of July. Summer is moving quickly, school is gonna be starting back up. It is just crazy how the year moves. And halfway through the year, after this week, we will be halfway through the book of Luke. But I continue to be joined by my all-star. We talked about the all-stars last week. No changes, nobody went on injured reserve or sprained their ankle walking out of the room. So I still have Jonathan Bush with me. What's going on today, Jonathan? Financial peace master, extraordinaire over there. We're talking to that. Well, I'm uh I'm uh satisfied today. Satisfied and content. Okay, you're not being too greedy, not building bigger barns like we talked about last week, right? Doing my best. Good, good. And Rico da Silva is with us. What's going on, Rico? We already got him cracking up this week.

SPEAKER_00 1:24

How you guys doing? I'm I'm amazing. Just to just to share God's word with all of us and speaking to myself. That's that's that's the blessing to be here. So I'm happy to be back.

SPEAKER_02 1:34

Good, good. Rejoice in all things, right? So absolutely. And Jeremy Aldrich is here. He came back for another week, keeping the street going. What's going on, man?

SPEAKER_01 1:43

Yeah, you know, you could I'm glad you asked me back because you know it's always good to dive into the God's word with you guys.

SPEAKER_02 1:50

Amen. Amen. And we are gonna do exactly that. And again, if you joined us last week, we started the beginning of chapter 12, work through anxiety, fear, a number of things. But we're gonna pick up in verse 35. Is that right, Jeremy? QAQC. We've got to check this more often. We're gonna get a little slack. I'm expecting we'll screw something up soon if we're not careful.

SPEAKER_01 2:10

Make one correction like seven months ago, and you can't have a live done.

SPEAKER_02 2:14

That's how things roll on the podcast. You can't outlive this. But we will be starting in verse 35 and going through the rest of chapter 12, which there are 24 chapters in Luke, so this will take us halfway. But everybody knows I love some alliteration. Hopefully, it helps you remember things. You know, we don't do it haphazardly, but we see in this passage, we're gonna see a readiness, then we're gonna see a response, and then we're gonna see redefinition or a reframing. And all of this, of course, if you didn't listen to us last week, I think it's really important. Go back and listen to that because having the fear of the Lord, having our identity in Christ, having an understanding is what then leads to these things. And so, very importantly, we

Be Ready With Lamps Lit

SPEAKER_02 3:00

start with readiness because Jesus is continuing. This is really one continuous discourse here, but he says, be ready for service and have your lamps lit. You are to be like people waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks, they can open the door for him at once. Blessed will be those servants the master finds alert when he comes. Truly I tell you, he will get ready. Have them recline at the table, then come and serve them. If he comes in the middle of the night or even at dawn and finds them alert, blessed are those servants. But know this if the homeowner had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. You also be ready, because the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. And so we see Jesus starting to foreshadow the ultimate restoration and return that we can expect. And he's telling us, again, based on everything we talked about last week, how we should live. Francis Schaefer, I've mentioned him a couple episodes. He wrote a book like How then Shall We Live? You know, we come to faith, we come to salvation, we have the fear of the Lord, we're starting to find our identity in Christ. Now, how do we live? It's living ready, it's living on mission because we have what God calls us to now, and then what he has as our eternal destiny. And so truly, we could get into a lot of ultimately we believe Christ is coming again. And I mean, there's been times when it was in the 80s, every year Christ was coming back, and books about all of those things, and we won't dig too deeply into that, but we should live our lives, is what Christ is telling us in such a way, because hey, we're looking for those unseen blessings, and there's not those prosperity blessings, but we're to be on mission. We may need to share the gospel. God may have work for us to do. There are things and ways that we should live, and this really builds into the character that we're to have as Christians. If anybody's had that job where maybe your boss went on vacation and maybe you fell asleep. I I'll I'll tell them myself, I'm really bad to fall asleep in the car. I have this like heart condition where it gets real low. And so if you put me in the backseat of a car for longer than about 20, 30 minutes, I'm gonna fall asleep. And in my trainee days when I was an engineer, man, I was paranoid to death. We'd be riding in a car with my boss, and I'm in the backseat just like sawing logs, and I was scared. Like, they go look back here and I'm sleeping, I'm gonna get fired. So that point of that is like, don't fall asleep, be alert, be on mission. And so we are to live a life that is ready and not a passive Christianity, kind of like the rich fault fool that Jeremy talked to us about last week, where it's like, all right, I can just chill X, you know, I got enough stuff, I've done enough things, you know, that's almost a workspace, you know, I've done enough good in my life, I can I can relax, kick back. But no, we are to live ready.

SPEAKER_01 5:49

Yeah.

Readiness As A Daily Lifestyle

SPEAKER_01 5:50

I mean, what I think what one of the things that stood out to me and what you said, and when in the passage is that readiness is a lifestyle, it's not a last minute scramble. You know, we can see and that spiritual readiness is not some sort of an emotional buildup or or hype. It's it's a daily obedience. It's like yeah, I think there's a no, I've never read the book, but a long obedience in the same direction, right?

SPEAKER_02 6:16

Eugene Peterson, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:19

It's it's amazing how two things in this context, and pretty much what we already know, no one knows when. But what you mentioned, Jeremy, the spiritual uh readiness is to be ready. And one of the clever things that happens in this context is when Jesus says, Therefore, you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at the hour you do not expect. What the disciples did, what Peter said, he asked a question, Lord, are you are are you communicating this to us only in powerful in parables? If you notice to the context, Jesus did not answer that immediate or dead on. He followed up through with who then is that faithful or white steward? The implication that the answer is Yes. So this is the point in where if you are listening and you know that you have been crucified and raised with Christ, and your name is written in the book of life that no matter what happens, as Romans 8 states can separate you from Him, we should be ready, we should be working. All the passages with scripture is hey make sure that when I come after you doing what I stewardship to for you to do. So it's a great passage to be still, but at the same time being an alignment of our duties as we waiting patiently for the king to come home.

SPEAKER_02 8:03

I think that's 100% right on, and that's again we live ready, which as you alluded to here, Peter then asked that question, like, Who are you talking to, Lord? Are you just talking to us? Are you talking to everyone? And and Jesus' answer is not A or B, but yes. You know, he continues, it's

Faithful Stewardship Under The Master

SPEAKER_02 8:20

the people who are living this way that will respond that I'm talking to. And verse 42, the Lord said, Who then is the faithful and sensible manager, his master will put in charge of his household servants to give them their allotted food at the proper time. Blessed is that servant whom the master finds doing his job when he comes. Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all of his possessions. But if that servant says in his heart, My master is delaying his coming, and starts to beat the male and female servants, and to eat and drink and get drunk, that servant's master will come on a day that he does not expect him, and an hour he does not know, he will cut into pieces and assign him a place with the unfaithful, and that servant who knew his master's will and didn't prepare him or to do it will be severely beaten. But the one who did not know and did not know what deserved punishment will receive a light beating. From everyone who has been given much, much will be required, and from everyone who has been entrusted with much, even more will be expected. And I think this is where Christ is moving from that vertical, the readiness for Christ, to the horizontal of we respond by living and treating others differently through that humble, outward, other focused life. And so I think that's the important response that the gospel turns us inside out. We're no longer having our self priorities, you know, we're not beating or taking advantage of others, you know, we're just eating, drinking, getting drunk. You know, again, I think this week ties with last week very closely. You know, we are being good stewards, both in relationships, in our possessions, whatever it is, we're responding in a completely different way because now we have the gospel. And so I think that was is what I would see as what we've been given. We've been given this hope, we've been given salvation. It should change us. And if it doesn't, then that might be saying we don't really get it. You know, we're not responding in the way that Jesus is telling us here. So we should be ready and respond with all of those opportunities, those people that Christ puts around us to either reach with the gospel, to care for, to show the love of Christ. That's the response that we will exhibit as believers in our lifestyle.

SPEAKER_03 10:40

Yeah, the sight picture here, I think, is somewhat like it's not just that I I need to figure out life just before I die or just before Christ's return, because you know, then then it's all good, right? Because, you know, he'll come back and say, oh, Jonathan figured it out, he's doing what he needs to do. But it's no, it's because I I don't think this is more so for the the master, this is more for for the servant, is that the servant daily is doing his job in anticipation of what if the master is standing right there. And I think uh for us, what Jesus is telling his disciples is is you need to live, you know, it's I forget who is who did the forge on integrity, but you know, doing what is right even when no one's looking. And in this case, it's you need to live in a manner like Christ is right there. Because the funny thing is, God is. God sees. It's it's not like he's not seeing, he knows exactly what's going on. This is this is for you. This is for you to have a life that when Christ does return, it's one that's worthy, that brings glory to to God.

SPEAKER_02 11:48

That's really a life of freedom, right? When we're living in the center of God's will, when we're following him, then I don't have to worry about the master coming back because I'm being obedient. I'm doing exactly what he called me, and I live free. My conscience is very much in a great place because I know my master and I love my master, and so that

Identity In Christ Shapes Responsibility

SPEAKER_02 12:10

love that he has shown me, I'm showing other people.

SPEAKER_01 12:13

Yeah, so much of this ties back to identity, right? Like when we when we have our identity right, like then so much of this fall, like so much of this can fall into place. You know, when we're when it's when when our identity is who we are in Christ, the you know, think of Ephesians 1 and all of the things that Paul tells us about who we are. You know, we just it this freedom, we get we have this freedom, we have this desire for you know faithfulness. And faithful, what what what we're seeing here, what some of the things that I see here is you know, when I'm walking in that identity, the daily responsibilities that I have are actually spiritual assignments that that that I have. And that that the reward is not retirement, it's greater responsibility, like the more is given. And you know, and that sounds like you know, if I was if I was in my world, if I was in the world, I'd be like, that sounds like a lot of work. But like when you have your identity right, it changes your perspective.

SPEAKER_00 13:17

Thank you for taking my words out of it. This is good because you saw you saw my face and I lifted my hand too, but that's a testament that praising God. I know 100%. It's a testament that the spirit is alive. When two or more gather, I'll be in the midst. Right. So this is incongruence of what I was about to say, but I'm gonna elaborate on that. Thank you for bringing my points. And I think you kind of had a a vision of what I was gonna say. I mean, the Holy Spirit makes you sure that you go ahead and answer that. But uh as a believer, I think we do, and this is another alliteration with a letter R, we have a responsibility to respond on the gospel, and that responsibility that we have is to ensure that what we know is being in execution to the truth of who already planted in our hearts. For instance, scripture mentioned for more that is given, more is required, and for people who are listening, if we are literally studying the word, not just reading the word, but studying the word, we have a responsibility to respond to the obligation of what the scripture tells us to do, the like the declaration of the words that come from Jesus that are firm in the stewardship of God allows us to do here on this earth. So you mentioned something very good, which is uh servanthood. We're here to be servants, right? And what more beautiful sound when we hear the word freedom? Because that's what it is. We're not in shackles no more. And when we look at life and we look at people, uh do this similarity. Some of the people uh we p see people in jail, we see people outside. And some people in jail, they're more free than what people there outside, and it comes from uh their mindset or the worldview that they process. And we talk about biblical worldview, but for this, and specifically how you respond to the spiritual writtenness that is in scripture that is already communicated vividly in red to the disciples. How do we react as a believer when we read this? What is our take? You must respond, you must be steward, you must be a servanthood because for more that is given, more is required.

SPEAKER_02 16:02

I think the important thing, it's not a set, you know, concrete, it doesn't look the same for everybody, but we all respond by using our gifts, by living in that way. And too many people think it's a bunch of rules. There are, but it's not rules, it's the response to the gospel that we get to live out, and I think that's what Christ is calling us to here. So we are to be ready, we are to respond as believers, and then we see Christ really walk through a redefinition, a complete reframing. And I think this is, you know, there's a word that we use kind of in the apologetics of your world of view. You start to see things completely differently. So not only are you ready and responsive, but you start to have an eternal perspective, which Christ shows us shapes a few things. And if we

Fire And Division From The Gospel

SPEAKER_02 16:55

jump back into verse 49, we don't want to miss this. Jesus is foreshadowing a few things in verse 49. I came to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already set ablaze. I would see this as the Holy Spirit. We know in Pentecost, the Holy Spirit appears as tongues of fire. Very frequently, the Holy Spirit is looked at in that way. And so I would view, you know, he prophesies more concretely eventually that the Holy Spirit will come, the Spirit of God will be poured out, and so I think that's and he has a desire to see that, like to see the spiritual renewal that will come ultimately from the death, burial, and resurrection. But I have a baptism to undergo and how it consumes me until it is finished. So we know Christ went through a lot of anguish in the garden, and so again, a lot of foreshadowing here. But he brings it very applicably. Do you think that I came here to bring peace on the earth? No, I tell you, rather, division. From now on, five and one household will be divided, three against two and two against three. They will be divided, father against son, son against father, mother against daughter, daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law. And so before we even move to the final two, we're seeing, we talked about this in a couple episodes ago, of the devil owning the fence. There's really two kinds of people. There's those who have accepted Christ and place their faith and trust in him, and those who haven't. And so we see this redefinition of family and who we're part of in terms of community. So we know as believers, we are part of the family of God, and that's really to change our allegiance. And nothing about that is to say we don't love our family or that we don't care about them by any stretch, but Christ tells us in the other gospels that if you're not willing to leave your father and mother for the sake of Christ, you're not worthy. You haven't understood the eternal perspective of this new family, of this new relationship you have with God. And so a lot of times, many of us, I'm sure, listening, you may have unbelieving family members, and you should be burdened for them. You should maintain a relationship to share the hope with them and pray, earnestly pray that they will become. But you also now understand those people in your church, in your Christian community, those are the people you can go to most importantly to experience the love of God, to study the word of God, that your your allegiances start to be redefined and you understand the family that you're part of.

SPEAKER_03 19:32

Yeah, and with that, I mean, how sweet is it when when those coincide? When when your media family uh does. I mean, that's that's the way God intended it from the beginning. It's just that sin has now marred that and uh and the human condition, uh, our sinful hearts is what unfortunately we we all at some point, even though we're we're born into a family, we make a decision whether or not we're going to live in in regards to that or or or not. And and you know, whether or not a family has belief or doesn't, but um, if if it does, my prayer is that you know continue in that. And if it doesn't, my my prayer would be that that if you find faith, uh when you find God, is that then that can impact your family. Like for uh for Christine and and her family, her mom and and herself were were uh the first to to be saved, and and that uh progressed you know for the family. And you know, and typically like for us men, if we're for our families, if if we're the ones to be come to faith, a lot of times that will then impact our our whole family.

Family Tension And Staying Hopeful

SPEAKER_03 20:40

That goes a long way.

SPEAKER_00 20:43

I these passes of of scripture, if if we not study it correctly, it can bring a lot of confusion. And it shouldn't be for somebody who's in the kingdom. It shouldn't be for a believer. In the literal sense, you look in it through the wrong lenses. If we look at people who come to Christ and they're devoted to him, and we can see even in scripture, we have many examples of the Bible when somebody comes to Christ, even their parents, even their family become secondary to that because they want to please the priest, the prince of peace. So when it comes to this, uh personal experience, uh I was a race Catholic, and majority of my family believed to pray and to from to marry. And an observation that I have seen, the division that I have seen is that I foresee that people oh that we know that there's a Christ, we know that that Christ is Mary's son, but at the same time, she the one who she's the one. Who intercedes for us. And this is where the division comes. You can agree to that. You can avoid that. Or you can stand on what the ground or belief is or what you have. So I think the division will come in the worldview or what you process, what truth is. And through scripture, we see that the redeemer, which is Jesus, he is the one who should be at the center of everything. He's not a piece of this religion. He's not a piece of this family. He's not a piece of whatever, fill up the blank. He must be the center. He must be the one on top. He's the one who was given the keys for everything. Therefore, division is gonna come. And if it's not, you might be compromising. And that's a self-observation that we truly say. How many times we see people blaspheming Jesus or blaspheming God? And and we can even stand to tell our truth. What would you do in that situation? Especially for a lot of us who in scripture we that that we spend time in knowing how to defend the gospel, we have an obligation to do that. We have to the previous point response for the reframing on the last point too. Hey, this is eternal perspective, as you mentioned. This is not just for the now. This whatever you proceed out of your mouth that you defending the gospel and the Holy Spirit, don't worry about that. The Holy Spirit will tell you what to say if you're in it one with that. But what are we compromising that we have to allow scripture when it says division is gonna come, we take it lightly. We shouldn't. It's an obligation that we should take on refraining the perspective of eternal readiness about you.

SPEAKER_01 23:57

I mean, I I agree with you completely, Rico. I've seen it in you know my family as well. Like the gospel divides family because like what you're saying, loyalty to Christ supersedes that. You know, and one of the things that when I was studying through this for the for this podcast, you know, the gospel for some it can comfort, for others it confronts. It it purifies and it and it divides. And when I was blessed, I didn't realize how much I was blessed. I took it for granted, like until, you know, like like my my family are all believers. Like Kathy's family, like I think she would tell you there and there there's been, I've experienced this type of division, yeah. You know, and this type of like like we believe like we're salt and light, but these but this division of like I don't want anything to do with that. Like, and and you know, if you had a chance to talk to her, I think she'd be open about like you know, that like describing that. But I mean I've seen this division firsthand, and it's it's it's hard and it's sad, and you pray and you you want your your family to to come to Christ also, and it's just it's one of yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:15

And for the listener that listening to this, I I want to give you some hope in there because he mentioned family, and if you evaluating your family or your friendshiphood or anybody who you associate with that you believe and you're certain that your name is written in the book of life, but somebody you love doesn't, it's not your job to say when God, when God, when God, you have an obligation to respond to the gospel that you responded in the first place. So, my advice and my hope for you is the okay, first thing, pray for that individual. Absolutely, pray for that family. How many times people have prayed for believer? I'm talking to you, believer, how many times people, family, uh uh uh not only that, but generations that people that came before you pray for you and I to respond to the gospel, and we did the same time as we're gonna see in the next segment, the sermon the time, is gonna let you know that as long as there's uh breath in your lungs or air in your lungs, the gospel can penetrate the soul of a non-believer. So that's my hope for people who are in the time right now that man, my family is about to is Jesus come today, my family is gonna go to hell or whatever case might be. Well, uh go back and look at yourself in the mirror because you did not burn with Christ. You came to Christ at one specific point, and when you did, you respond. Pray for those individuals so they can respond the same way that you did. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 26:50

I think this is why really important, again, like you guys have mentioned, if you have a strong family where you are united in Christ, praise God, but be outward. Like that's why church is so important of finding somebody like Kathy's family or again, my wife's family, very much not believers, and so you know, having that Christian community is so important in the church as family, and all this builds, and we go on as always. We this is why we love God's word, we get into amazing things, but like the doctrine of adoption, you know, we God as our father, and so truly seeing this new family. When God is our father, we are adopted as sons and daughters of the king, and so we are in a new family, and that should, as we say, redefine and reframe our allegiance and and how we look at

Read The Times And Settle Quickly

SPEAKER_02 27:40

that. And we'll bundle up the final two here because in verse 54, Jesus also said to the crowd, so he's he's looking out, and he says, You see a cloud rising in the west right away. You say a storm is coming, and it does. And and when the south wind is blowing, you say it's going to be hot. It's July. That's pretty relevant for us, too, right? Heat domes and all that, like it's hot. But you hypocrites, you know how to interpret the appearance, the physical things of the earth and sky, but why don't you know how to interpret the present time? And then he goes on in verse 57 why don't you judge for yourselves what is right? As you are going with your adversary to the ruler, make an effort to settle with him on the way, that he won't drag you before the judge, the judge hand you over to the bailiff, and the bailiff throw you into prison. I tell you, you'll never get out of there until you've paid every last penalty. And so I think here we're seeing a reframing of our perspective and priorities. You know, we're not just focused on the physical. He's like you say, you know, you can see the weather, these physical things, but have an eternal perspective of the time. And so especially him, you know, at this time, you know, the the present time, Christ is here, the Messiah has come. And for us these days, we're living in this time in light of Christ and how we are to see, you know, spiritually things rightly. And again, that comes from a worldview that fully understands where we live. And then the last verses are the priorities. Like, you know, we talk about this, it's like 1 Corinthians 6, where you know, Paul's all over the Corinthians because they're arguing, you know, amongst each other over dumb things and going to court. And it's like when we have an eternal perspective, it reshapes our priorities of what we get worked up on. And we keep going back to last week. But like if you're getting anxious about little worldly things and fighting over this and spending lots of time, it shows you're you're struggling to get that eternal perspective. So we should be very forgiving, moving past these little things, as well as probably interpreting the times more than the physical. So don't know if you guys see some other things, but that's where I think it continues to shape our worldview and perspective as we are ready and responding.

SPEAKER_01 29:50

Yeah, what I I right along with what you're saying, what I what I what I pulled out of this was like we shouldn't miss what God is doing because we're distracted by lesser things. And and you know, and then and don't wait to get right with God. The window of mercy is now, possibly not tomorrow. Today is the day of salvation. 100%.

SPEAKER_03 30:17

And you're I think along with that is that like like timeline, yes, but also just there's a process. And so you can under I think part of what he's saying too is there's a pro like you understand the weather because you know we look outside, and if it's cumulonibus clouds versus stratus clouds, you know, all the for my meteorological friends out there, the types of clouds will dictate because we know that that type of cloud is a result of this type of weather, and that you know, we expect, okay, we're gonna have winds and things like that. But and and it's not just that it's physical, but I think it's also to say you understand, like with the physical, there is a process, and and the spiritual is the same way. There is, you know, what I'm telling you, you know, uh, you've been given the truth. Look at that, don't just ignore it. Yeah, like you should be able to do this. And I think that's where it ends there with with going before the judge. You know what's right, figure it out between the two of you. Come to an agreement. Don't don't put it before some ungodly magistrate who may judge wrongly and put you in prison. Like, do what take step into what God has given you and and understand what in and as we continue on with where where he's going with this, is you know, ultimately, like we in we looked at Forge this month, was with vision, the the the the purpose of vision isn't just to with with what to to accomplish that vision, but it's what it enables that ultimately I'm looking to God's kingdom. I want the kingdom of God to return for when he does return, like we looked at last week, with being ready.

SPEAKER_00 31:57

One thing that jumps here, two things actually on verse 56 with an exclamation point on the end hypocrites.

Hypocrisy Check And Final Charge

SPEAKER_00 32:13

Let me I mean literally, let me open the eyes to our believer. Have we been that? Have we seen people who because you super holy, I'm I'm speaking to myself, I'm talking to myself. If you're listening to this, I'm talking to Rico. If if it fits on you, you you can wear it. But have you seen people who behave the same way you used to behave? Or they do things that you used to do, but then don't care about it. And you in your mind, you're saying, Wow, how how how come he's like this? He he don't know a God, he don't know a God who can forgive. Why why waiting for tomorrow? Like why not come to salvation so your trials and tribulations within, knowing that as a believer, trials and tribulations is going to continue. But it's just the pasture of how Jesus tell the multiple people, you're hypocrite. So the time is now. We mentioned salvation, it's not tomorrow, it's not the next day, it's today. And if we look at this, especially now as we look at scripture and the scriptures say, wow, you can discern looking at the sky, what kind of weather you're going to have and prepare for it, don't it push us back? To look at the whole scripture knowing that the time is nearer than yesterday. Nobody knows the time. But at the same time, for me, I'm evaluating my heart right now as we have in the podcast, I'll be a how hypocritical you have been, that you have not even prayed for those individuals who you see and criticize. That's point number one. And then the point number two is do every effort to settle your thing with whoever you have a problem with. We quit to settle issues with God either when sin confronts us or when we get caught. But how about with our neighbor? How about the love for our neighbor? How about with our spouses? How about for our kids? How about people that literally just cut you off when you're driving? What do you say? So this is something like, and again, believer, if you're listening to this, I am talking to me. But this is so rich that knowing that the time is now that we must respond in a way that if Christ comes today, we're gonna see the people who needed to know our testimony or react to our to the gospel, and we didn't do nothing about it. Not knowing that, I mean, knowing that Christ already presents the gospel to them, but you had a part on there, you had a responsibility maybe to pray, maybe to stand up for what is right, maybe to challenge that individual to invite them to church. How many times we come to church and we don't invite in not even our neighbors? And again, believer, I'm talking to myself.

SPEAKER_02 35:46

Then hopefully you learn something.

SPEAKER_01 35:48

That ties back in, sorry, and then to the you know, just being the faithful steward also for the faithful servant, right? Like doing, being ready, being prepared, being watchful

Closing Prayer And Next Steps

SPEAKER_01 35:59

and ready.

SPEAKER_02 35:59

So, listeners, we appreciate you all tuning in. Again, as always, our prayer is this helps you. Maybe you're on your way to work, be ready. There may be opportunities to respond. God may put people in your path. Maybe you're on your way home and we'll be spending time with family, and just what does God have for you? So, are you ready? Are you responding? And are you continuing when we are in God's word? We are building up, we're going to allow it to change us to redefine how we view things. So that's our encouragement to you today. Thanks again for tuning in, and we will see you next time. Thanks for tuning in to the Life Talk Podcast. If this episode encouraged you, please be sure to like, comment, subscribe, and leave a review so others can find this content as well. And we'll look forward to seeing you next Monday for another great episode.